America's first 3D printed president is kind of creepy

This presidential bust of Obama is a landmark first – but what's up with his eyes?

People are using 3D printing for pretty much everything now, from couture to prosthetic kidneys, so it's no surprise that someone has just created the first 3D printed bust of the 44th US president, Barack Obama. Unfortunately for everyone, it's a weird nightmare.

Last week, Obama organised a fair to celebrate young American entrepreneurs who are "inventing America's future wiht new technologies and techniques". It was there that America's man in the White House had the honour of being the first president to receive a 3D printed presidential bust. Shame he looks like the undead. The facial contours might be accurate, but it's Obama's lack of pupils that lend the model a truly vacant air. Eyes are meant to be the windows to the soul, right?

The bust was created by the Smithsonian Institute, which worked with a new digital process with two different capture methods and data sets. The printer took 40 hours to construct the final product, though the POTUS only spent five minutes getting scanned for the bust. The lifeless plastic rendering will now reside permanently in the National Portrait Gallery, Washington.